Mentoring is one of the key drivers for women’s success in nearly all industries. However, reverse mentoring can also benefit both the mentor and mentee alike. Reverse mentorship inverts the traditional mentor-mentee relationship. Professionally, reverse mentors are often junior to their mentees and can provide critical insights on their leadership and career. Being a reverse mentor helps showcase the value you bring to a team and consider new pathways for your own career advancement. The first step to reverse mentorship is creating trust between the mentor and mentee. Since the typical power relationships are reversed, reverse mentors must be able to trust that their advice will be taken seriously. If you have a typical mentor, you can offer to be their reverse mentor and help them see their work and position from a different perspective. As a reverse mentee, you have to open yourself up to receiving advice from someone who is junior to you, and be able see the value in their perspective. It’s the reverse mentor’s responsibility to give you a critical appraisal of your work from their point of view, and it’s the reverse mentee’s responsibility to take action on that advice. Who makes great reverse mentors? Ideally, reverse mentors are about three to five years junior to their mentees. This enables them to give you the perspective of the next generation of professionals and gives them the chance to think critically about the next stage of their careers.

Investing time and effort in reverse mentoring and being a reverse mentee will give you new opportunities to advance your career in ways you wouldn’t expect.